(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to non-cash point-of-sale transaction systems for managing purchase transactions and for distributing of purchase commissions among distributors and users of non-cash point-of-sale transaction systems.
Non-cash payment devices, such as debit cards or credit cards, provide substantial convenience to purchasers of goods or services. However, such payment devices require electronic transaction management and accounting systems which incur operating expenses above the cost of goods and services purchased with such devices. Traditionally, issuers of non-cash payment devices have entered into merchant agreements whereby participating merchants pay commissions to the card issuers in exchange for providing customers with the convenience of using non-cash payment devices. More recently, competition among card issuers has decreased the commission rates that merchants are willing to pay. Consequently, card issuers have attempted to increase the transaction volume by providing various incentives to their customers and by aggressive commercial promotion of such incentives.
(2) Description of Related Art, Including Information Disclosed Under 37 C.F.R. Sections 1.97 and 1.98
In one known incentive program, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,941,090 to McCarthy, customers are paid personal bonuses based upon the amount of personal purchases made with their non-cash payment device. Although such an incentive program is attractive to individual customers, such a program must also be effectively promoted to advertise the program and to attract potential customers. Additionally, these incentive programs provide no particular advantage to the participating merchants, who must still be enrolled on a commission basis competitive with other non-cash payment systems. It would therefore be desirable to develop a non-cash payment system that provides incentives for customers to use the system in preference to other non-cash payment systems, that would provide enrollment incentives to merchants, and would reduce promotional costs associated with attracting and maintaining cardholders.